A ‘worried’ Sean Hannity tries to push Herschel Walker into the end zone – and even seems to help him with his answers

Fox News star doubles down on case for Republican hopeful, writes Andrew Buncombe in Acworth, Georgia

Herschel Walker is in a very close race with Democrat Raphael Warnock (Getty Images)

It was titled “The Hannity Town Hall with Herschel Walker”.

It might more accurately have been described as an event where Fox News’s second-most watched anchor would do anything he can to to deliver a win for the Republican Senate candidate, and in doing so help the party retake control of the upper chamber of Congress.

“I’m worried for our country right now,” said the veteran Fox anchor. “I never thought things could get so bad so quickly.”

He added: “The Atlanta media and the national media is biased against conservatives. But Herschel Walker could be our 51st senator, and a last line of defence against Biden.”

With the 2022 midterm elections less then a month away, Democrats have been preparing themselves to take a knock.

With inflation soaring and Joe Biden’s approval rating at best modest, there is little to suggest Democrats will buck the trend of parties who control the White House losing one or more chambers of Congress.

In Georgia, polls suggest incumbent Republican Brian Kemp has a lead over Stacey Abrams of up to five points. In many of the high profile House races, such as that of Majorie Taylor Greene, they also expect to win.

If there is one seat in Georgia that gives Democrats hope it is the senate seat currently occupied by Rev Raphael Warnock, who was first elected nearly two years ago in a special election, and is now facing off against Walker, the former American football star, whose campaign has been pummeled with accusations that the 60-year-old – running on a platform of being opposed to abortions – paid for his then girlfriend to have such a procedure.

Walker has denied the claims. And many supporters of the former footbal star claim the accusation does not trouble them and that it is just dirty politics from his opponent.

Nevertheless, polls show Warnock with a lead of anywhere up to three points over Walker, having spent up to $40m on television adverts compared to just $8m for the former sports star.

The pitch of Hannity, 60, held in an actual town hall in Acworth, a staunchly red district in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, was two-fold. It was to double down on Walker’s conservative bona fides, as well as to urge people to dig into their pockets to pay for the last three weeks of the campaign.

The Fox News veteran has spent decades promoting conservatives and Republicans. But it still can be jarring that a supposed journalist, particularly one of such influence and one critical of other reporters’ alleged bias, can be so unabashedly for one side.

Supporters of Walker say they like that he appears to speak from the heart, and he certainly appeared genuine when he spoke at the event on Monday evening, being filmed for a Fox News special.

“Warnock is either rubber stamp for Joe Biden, or else not very good at what he does,” he said.

Do you agree with anything he has done, Hannity asked Walker. “I think he will vote for me,” Walker said, to laughs.

Hannity had also invited South Carolina senators Lindsay Graham and Tim Scott to take part in the event.

Scott harkened back to the “good old days” when Donald Trump – the man more responsible for Walker’s candidacy than anyone else – was president.

Graham was blunt about his wish for people to donate whatever they could.

“If we pick up one more seat, all this crap goes away,” he said. “And the road to the majority runs through Georgia.”

Hannity asked Walker about why African Americans who voted conservative could be “smeared” by the “establishment”.

“They will do anything to stay in power,” said Walker. “But God prepared me for this moment.”

Sean Hannity has long used his platform to promote and defend Republicans (Andrew Buncombe)

When it came to listing Walker’s policy priorities, Hannity appeared to speak for him – lowering taxes, controlling the border, more money for the police, teaching reading and writing and arithmetic, and “ending wokeness”.

“And more for our military,” Walker chipped in. “The military is our strength.”

Those in the audience were Herschel Walker fans before they entered the event and most people streaming out afterwards felt energised by what they heard.

“I’ve followed Herschel for some time,” said Jennifer James. “I think he will win as long as the vote is fair.”

Another Walker fan, Rena Opel, 54, said she was also voting Republican up and down the ticket. Her priorities, she said, were inflation, immigration and crime.

Hannity had said if there were any “liberal media” among the crowd to report that he had said there were no rules about the event, and that people could clap or cheer or boo. As it was, it appeared there were not so many journalists in there other than those from Fox News.

The Fox News star said that in the coming days he would be taking his programme to Pennsylvania to push the candidacy of Mehmet Oz, also in a tight race, and to Arizona where Republican Blake Masters has an equally tough fight against Mark Kelly.

Walker was a good sport and stayed a while to pose for photographs and to answer one, admittedly not very original question, from The Independent.

Can he win?

He replied: “I know I can win.”